Sparks on the Tongue
by perfectlyrose
Summary: In the world of espionage, certain legends never died. The Bad Wolf had made a name for herself, making everyone chase her shadow and utter her chosen name with reverence. Then the Doctor, another legend, once thought to be lost, reappears and sparks begin to fly. (Eight/Rose spy AU)


Alright so this is my first time writing Eight so it might be a bit bumpy in spots but hopefully it turned out alright! To be completely honest, this whole thing was inspired by a photo of Billie Piper which I'll link on my profile if you're interested!

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In the world of espionage, certain legends never died. Usually these legends were specific missions that were revered and studied along with the agents who'd been involved—people and events in the past that revolutionized the business. Generally, the legends whispered about in the shadows, the ones known by official, agency-sanctioned, government-backed spies and freelancers alike, did not live to hear their codenames uttered with the same weight as saint's or enjoy their brand of immortality.

There were always exceptions though, and one seemed to blow in with the faint sound of a howl on changing winds when top-secret information was taken from the supposedly impenetrable office of a top-ranked British official, replaced with the image of a golden wolf and two words.

After impossible, high-profile successes in London and Berlin and New York within six months, the name Bad Wolf began to gain weight, began to feel like sparks on the tongue as a living legend was created by the whispers—a golden enigma wrapped in shadows and speculation.

Someone had snapped a photo of a woman that was allegedly the Bad Wolf shortly after a flash drive with sensitive, state secrets had been nicked from a diplomatic party in Paris. There had been a minor explosion at the American embassy and a searchlight had swept the perimeter, half illuminating a blonde who'd paused to glance back at the smoke rising against the dark sky.

Just one moment, captured on camera right before her mouth turned up in a satisfied smile and she disappeared into the shadows once more. It was the only potential identification they had on her.

No one knew who she was or where she'd come from, couldn't even prove for certain that the woman in the picture was her. No agency claimed her or had any record of her and none of the freelancers could even claim a passing acquaintance with her. The Bad Wolf was a ghost and she was unstoppable.

She was a flash of brown eyes and teasing smile on the edges of a party right before a bomb went off in a back room.

She was a temptation wrapped in a red dress dragging her lips, painted the same color as her dress, across a target's neck before nibbling on an earlobe, whispering filthy promises before the drug she'd slipped in the wine kicks in. The last thing people see before passing out is a feral smile on those siren red lips.

She was ruthless—a beauty with a body count—and the rumors of her devastating smile were paired with reports of her bloodstained hands.

As time went on, she continued to build a reputation of always being on the edges of big events. She blends in, flirts with the major players and other spies without raising alarm. That one singular photo that could identify her is hoarded by a select few agencies and she's an expert at altering her appearance just enough to evade detection.

It's only when things go to hell and someone glimpses her smile as she slips away that they realize who she was. There's no mistaking that lupine smile or the feral pleasure in her eyes at a job well accomplished. It could only be the Bad Wolf and her name is whispered in the aftermath, the words like golden sparks that burn tongues and leave a brilliant, fading light to mark her presence.

People have danced with her and _danced_ with her during the five years since her explosive debut in London but somehow there is still a dearth of information on her. That one photo and a handful of most likely burned aliases is all that resides in the thin file labelled with a code name she chose herself.

It is not nearly enough information to keep up with her.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Rose Tyler looked out the window of the Starbucks she sat in, watching people go about their ordinary lives in this mid-size town in Middle America. It was times like this, the days between missions and danger and crucial lies, that she felt a little wave of loneliness threaten to overtake her. A brief moment of longing for an ordinary life like everyone out there had, one with a mortgage and a pet and someone to come home to every night. Her life was never going to take that route; she'd turned away from that path years ago.

Her phone buzzed in her hand, pulling her out of her thoughts. A smile grew on Rose's lips as she read the alert. She finished her coffee and called out a goodbye to the baristas in a flawless American accent before breezing out the door. Time to get back to work, domesticity was likely incredibly boring anyways.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Three weeks later she was walking away from a relatively small explosion in Vienna, a file in hand and signature smile in place.

She didn't know notice the man sitting on a roof across the street, watching with interest as she disappeared into the shadows once more.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next week the rumor mills of the espionage world were running full force. A legendary operative, assumed dead after being inactive for the last seven years, was back in the game. No one had seen him yet, but his signature was unmistakable and no one else, save Bad Wolf, would have had the gall to target the Russian official, despite the intel he was known to possess.

The Russian was found tied up and deposited on the steps of his house in the city, a piece of paper inscribed with a series of interlocking lines and circles that meant one thing – the Doctor was back in the game.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Rose caught wind of the Doctor's return while she was in London. She had a friend in MI6, one who thought she was CIA, and they met up for coffee and gossip whenever they were both in the city. Donna always had the best information about what was going on amongst in the spy world and loved the chance to spread it around. She told Rose all she knew about the Doctor and the legend surrounding him and how he'd announced his return in Russia.

"Got two living legends working the scene now," Donna said excitedly, leaning across the small table. "Imagine if they went up against each other!"

"I get that this Doctor's a legend, but come on, who else is up on that level that's still working? Or alive for that matter?" Rose queried, wondering if she'd missed someone else reappearing as well. It _had _been a while since she'd managed to see Donna.

"You're kidding, right? Bad Wolf ringing any bells for ya? Been causing all kinds of uproar for the last five years while everyone tries to figure out who the hell she is and where she came from?"

Rose had to fight back a startled smile. She knew she was good, she didn't know she'd reached legend status. "Right, just figured Bad Wolf was old news or something. Hasn't done anything flashy in a while has she?"

Donna sighed and took the final sip of her coffee. "No, she hasn't. The bosses are starting to wonder if she was captured somewhere or went underground."

"Maybe she's just taking a break or staying under the radar with smaller missions," Rose offered, knowing that neither of those were true. She'd been laying the groundwork for her current mission for three months and it would culminate in a couple days. The agencies were only getting twitchy about Bad Wolf disappearing because they hadn't tied the Vienna job to her.

Maybe it was time to definitively sign something again, let this Doctor know that he wasn't the only one with a name that everyone knew.

"Oi, Blondie! I've been talking and you just kinda spaced out on me. Where'd you go?"

"Sorry, just thinking. They've had me study Bad Wolf some and I was just wondering what she was up to and what she's going to think of this Doctor guy showing up."

"Oh, what I wouldn't give to be there if they both try to take the same mission. Epic wouldn't even begin to describe it." Donna smiled, shaking her head ruefully. "But that's not for me, being chained to a desk like I am and I've got to get back to headquarters before someone starts wondering about the extra-long lunch break."

"It was good to see you, Donna. It's always too long between visits," Rose said, meaning every word. It was an odd friendship they had, knowing that they both were using aliases and not telling the whole truth, but it was a sincere one.

"That it is, Blondie. Let me know next time you're in these parts and we'll go out for drinks."

They exchanged a brief hug and then the redhead was gone, leaving Rose to her thoughts.

Something had obviously drawn the Doctor back into the game and Rose couldn't help but wonder if it was the lure of going up against someone who might be as good as him.

A flash of her eyes and bared teeth transformed Rose Tyler into the Bad Wolf as she stepped out onto a busy London street. Oh, if he wanted competition, then it was only fair that she introduced herself.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

This time as she walked away from her mission, dressed in her infamous red dress, USB drive secure in her bra, she felt the eyes on her. She didn't look around, just kept walking, dangerous smirk on her face. He'd hear about her little message soon enough.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The Doctor knew the minute she registered his presence and had to shake his head at her confidence. It had taken him four months to connect Bad Wolf with this woman, even with the help of the one photo the authorities seemed to have. She was very good. He had no information other than her code name and her appearance. He'd been able to track her though, watch as she pulled off thoroughly impressive missions. She was…fascinating. He had definitely been right about her being interesting enough to reenter the world of espionage.

He had made the opening salvo with his mission in Russia and had been waiting to see how she responded.

Now he had an answer in London and it looked like she was ready to play as well.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

He laughed when he found out that she'd pinned a note on her mark's shirt with her signature howling golden wolf and a message written in Russian and using his own preferred code that simply read, "Lovely to make your acquaintance."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After that it was a Chinese diplomat delivered to the authorities with an encoded note in English. Then an explosion in Frankfurt with a personal ad in the newspaper written in Chinese, signed with the initials BW.

The Doctor and the Bad Wolf traded messages, dancing around each other, flirting with their codes and notes while the rest of the espionage world watched and waited for their next moves.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It had been six months. Six bloody months and Rose still couldn't pin down a description of the Doctor. No one had a picture. Everyone and their mother had a description but it varied wildly. She knew his favored code and some of his methods of operation, how he picked his targets based on his own moral code. She knew that he was extremely charismatic with a voice like liquid sin and she knew that he used it to manipulate and seduce. She knew that he always believed he was right and that he worked alone.

But she didn't know what he looked like and it was driving her crazy, especially because she was aware that he'd had multiple opportunities to see her.

She really hated being at a disadvantage.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Six months and the Doctor was even more fascinated by this Bad Wolf than he had been at the beginning. She was wily and ruthless and as far as he could tell, had more morals than most spies did, in so much that she picked her missions for her own reasons much as he did.

He needed to know more. He knew what she looked like and how she generally approached a mission. He knew that she went to London fairly often and assumed that's where she was originally from.

He wanted to know her name, not her aliases. He wanted to know what she did when she wasn't planning or executing a mission. He wanted to know how she took her tea and how she spent lazy mornings.

It was driving him crazy, this knowing but not knowing, this flirting from a distance. Normally, he would use his not inconsiderable charm to get closer to her but he had a feeling she would _know_ and that would lose him the advantage of her not having his physical description.

He just needed to bide his time, keep up this game that they had started and see where it went.

Maybe it was time to up the ante a bit as well.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It took another six months and as many messages to his Bad Wolf, not always accompanied by an actual completed mission, before he finally got a lead that might lead him to her real name.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Rose was enjoying her communication with the Doctor far more than she felt she ought to. It had been a year since this whole thing had started. She'd picked up bits and pieces about him. The dark curls and dreamy blue eyes and prominent nose were among the traits she had finally been able to gather about his appearance. She'd yet to get her own visual though, just secondhand accounts based on glimpses.

Donna had been invaluable in getting some of that intel as she was enjoying the frenzy that the Doctor and the Bad Wolf's conversations were causing in the agencies. Apparently they hadn't caught all of the ones carried on in the newspapers but what they did have was enough to make people in charge very nervous.

Apparently no one wanted to even contemplate what the two living legends could accomplish if they ever joined forces instead of engaging in this flirtatious competition.

Rose just smirked every time the CIA or MI6 or other major intelligence operations sent out company-wide briefs on the Bad Wolf-Doctor situation, as they referred to it. Their information was consistently at least a month behind and woefully incomplete.

She was positive that they had no idea what she was planning. She was almost positive that she had not left any clues to tip the Doctor off either but she couldn't be sure of anything with him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Rose had been planning this mission for the last two months, laying the groundwork to get into the Parisian gala with an official invitation. The party would be crawling with important government officials from multiple countries and there were probably going to be multiple state secrets sold.

Bad Wolf was only there for one and she wasn't planning on paying a dime for it. After handing her invitation over at the door, she made her entrance. Wrapped in a black dress with gold embellishments and heels, Rose let a secretive smile play over her lips, painted her signature red. As long as she could find the right minister before the other buyers did tonight would be easy. A quick seduction, some truly excellent champagne, maybe a bit of recreational flirting on her way out and the job would be wrapped up and she would have the last piece of information to take down a ring of corrupt French businessmen and government officials.

Rose made her way through the crowd, making small talk as she moved closer to Monsieur Géroux, tonight's mark. She curses under her breath when she sees him in a deep conversation with someone else already.

Time for Plan B.

She glances around for anyone else who is watching the good Monsieur more closely than common interest would account for.

_There_. Dark curls, prominent profile, very nicely fitted tux. Definitely keeping an eye on Géroux and wore power and confidence as easily as he did the tuxedo. Rose was willing to bet that he was going to be a top contender for the information she was after and therefore was just the man she needed.

She grabbed a flute of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter and started her approach towards her new target, letting her hips swing a little more than usual. As soon she was in range, Rose pitched forward, faking tripping over her own feet. Champagne sloshed out of the glass and straight onto the man's tuxedo.

Rose caught herself with one hand on his chest and immediately started babbling out an apology in accented French. "Please excuse me, I hope I didn't ruin your suit! I'm just so clumsy when I have to wear heels!" She pulled back from him and moved so that the slit in her dress gaped wider, showcasing her golden heels and a long expanse of leg. "They look good but they make walking so much more difficult."

The man's chuckle was deep and Rose had to suppress a shiver. "No harm done and I can hardly complain when it has resulted in a beautiful woman starting a conversation with me."

Rose finally looked to get her first full-on look at her mark. She was met with a pair of blue eyes practically sparkling with mischief. _Oh_, well he was quite attractive with those eyes and the prominent nose and lips that looked immensely kissable. The recreational flirting section of her night might be starting earlier than she anticipated.

"Well, at least let me get you a drink to make up for spilling mine on you. I'm sure there's a bar around here if champagne's not your thing."

"How about just your name instead," he said as he leaned back on the table behind him and made no attempt to hide the fact that his eyes were wandering up and down her body.

"Marion Lewis," Rose purred, offering her hand. "Lovely to make your acquaintance."

The man's mouth quirked up in a half smile before he raised her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. "It doesn't sound like you're from around here, Miss Lewis," he commented, switching from flawless French to English. His accent was still inscrutable, a bit posh but his modulated tones thus far gave her no hint if English was even his first language.

"Caught me," Rose replied with a little laugh, switching to her American English. "Managed to learn the language but can't seem to get rid of the accent. And please, just call me Marion."

"As you wish." He was half-smiling at her again.

"Quoting _The Princess Bride_ at me this early in the conversation is promising. Would be even more promising if I knew your name."

"John Smith."

"No," Rose answered, faking astonishment. "No one's actually named John Smith." As an alias, it actually wasn't bad. No one would think that anyone would actually use _John Smith_ of all things as a legitimate alias.

"What can I say, my parents were unoriginal and the stereotype of it being a common name has to come from somewhere." His smile and the way his voice seemed to caress the words coming out of his mouth were disarming. She was supposed to be the one doing the seducing tonight though, not allowing some opposing member of the sale make a move on her.

All the same, she wanted to let him seduce her. It would make for a fun night and there was something about him that seemed familiar somehow. "I suppose you're right," she finally allowed. Rose reached out and trailed her fingers down his arm. "So, what are you at this stuffy party for?"

His attention, which had wandered over her shoulder where she knew Géroux was, snapped back to her just as she sent him a look from under her lashes. "Oh, just a business thing. Rubbing shoulders with the right people to make sure the company I represent continues to stay in the good graces of the government," John answered in a dismissive tone. "I think I found something better to occupy my time with though."

This time Rose did shiver as his voice dropped lower and his eyes seemed to catch fire. "I'm flattered, John," she said, a bit breathless, "but don't let me keep you from your business. You've been watching someone behind me so I can only assume you're supposed to talk to them at some point and I wouldn't want to hold you up."

John's smile widened until it spread across his whole face, the tiniest bit mad as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Oh, I think we're here on the same business with Monsieur Géroux, Bad Wolf."

Rose jerked back and stared at him, his shit-eating grin still in place as he watched the pieces click into place for her. "Doctor?"

He nodded, before grabbing her elbow and leading her through the crowds to an empty corridor just off the banquet hall. He had not known Bad Wolf would be here tonight until she'd singled him out, presumably because she pegged him as a player in the Géroux deal. He really hadn't been able to resist flirting with her in person after doing so by proxy for so long, especially when she'd been hell-bent on flirting with him. He was only human after all.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed as soon as they were alone, abandoning the American accent for her normal London one.

"Same thing you are apparently – going after Géroux's intel. It was really only a matter of time until we ended up in the same place at the same time."

"You're really going to tell me that this was all a coincidence?" Rose scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. She was actually thrilled to have finally met the infamous Doctor but pissed that he'd had the advantage all night, that he'd apparently had the drop on her.

"Actually yes. I had no idea you would be here tonight, lost track of your whereabouts oh, about two and a half months ago," he tried his disarming grin on her again, only to watch her scowl deepen. Maybe he should have just played along with her ruse instead of revealing himself.

"That's just not fair that you were able to track me! You're a bloody ghost! I could only get bits and pieces of a description and no trackable aliases." She paused, musing for a moment. "Which isn't a surprise if you actually go around telling people that your name is John Smith."

He just smiled again and Rose was forcibly reminded of the fact that she'd deemed his lips incredibly kissable earlier and knowing who he was only made the urge to close the distance between them and find out if she was right stronger. But they had a job to focus on and she wasn't letting him win that easily.

"Alright, if we're both here we might as well work together. What's your play?" Rose asked after a deep breath.

"Posing as a buyer to see where he's keeping the intel and then causing a distraction and stealing it."

"Not bad. What kind of distraction?"

"The explosive kind. Upper west wing of the building is just unused offices and I already planted a bomb up there."

"I do so love explosives," Rose commented, grinning at him.

The Doctor watched her face change as she settled into the discussion of plans and explosives. Her smile and the gleam in her eyes was a touch too harsh, a bit too wild to be called beautiful, at least in a classical sense but it was completely arresting. This is the woman who'd drawn him out of semi-retirement and back into the game just to have the joy of working against someone who challenged him. The woman who had kept him on his toes, had kept his interest for over a year. Beautiful was too simple a word, anyways.

"I know you do, especially in Paris," he said after a moment's pause.

"That was such a good night," Rose reminisced, "even if they did get that picture in the aftermath. But really, it's the City of Lights. I was just adding to the ambiance."

A full-throated laugh escaped the Doctor. He'd gotten to know her wit and lively sense of humor through their various communications but a whole new level was added to it when heard in person. He would've lingered to see if he could get her to laugh as well but the clock was ticking on their window of opportunity to complete the job they'd both come to do.

"So, my lady Marion, would you like to accompany me back to the ballroom to get started on our new joint project?" The Doctor offered his arm with a little half bow.

"Well, Mr. Smith, I suppose I should like to do just that," Rose answered, mimicking his accent and resting a hand on his arm.

They were about to reenter the banquet hall when Rose stopped, pulling the Doctor back into the shadows. "Come here, we need to look like we snuck out of the party for a good reason."

He expected her to just muss up their hair a bit and inclined his head towards her to facilitate that aim.

The Doctor, veteran player in the world of espionage, someone who was legendary for always predicting how people would react to any given situation, was completely blindsided when the Bad Wolf pulled him down to her and proceeded to snog the life out of him.

When she pulled back from his lips, she nibbled up the side of his jaw to plant an open mouthed kiss on his pulse point. Finally she stepped back completely, giving him a critical once-over, ignoring the fact that her own lips were tingling.

"Much better," she purred. "No one will question where we went now." There were traces of her lipstick clinging to his lips even though he'd already moved to wipe it off and a smudge of red on his neck.

"Right," he managed to say, offering her his arm again. "Let's get to work."

The two spies seamlessly slipped back into their characters as they reentered the party. They continued to banter and flirt as they pumped Géroux for information. The man in question was too busy stealing peeks down Rose's dress and getting caught up in the Doctor's wild stories to notice that he let more slip to them than he intended.

As soon as he disclosed the location of the file they were after, Rose leaned in to whisper in the Doctor's ear that she'd meet him upstairs in ten minutes so they could complete retrieval. He nodded and Rose made her excuses to the men and slipped out of the party once more.

She had the file in hand when she heard an explosion rock the building. Slipping off her heels, she took off running from the office, almost running down the Doctor who was just outside the door.

"No more heels," he asked cheekily as he looked down at the woman he'd caught.

"Told you earlier they were a pain to walk in. _Hate_ running in them," she said with a smile.

Together, they made it out of the building, blending in with the rest of the panicked party-goers. In the crowd, the Doctor felt the Bad Wolf's hand slip out of his.

It took him a minute to locate her again and when he did, she sent him a cheeky salute from the edge of the crowd, feral signature smile playing across her face as she disappeared into the Parisian night.

He shook his head, unable to suppress a smile. He wouldn't have expected anything less from the Bad Wolf and if he had his way, they would see each other again soon.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A month after Paris, he heard about a circle of corrupt officials and businessmen being arrested in France after information was anonymously submitted and smiled.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

A week later, he left her a message in a Parisian newspaper congratulating her on a job well done.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Two weeks after that, his scheme to learn her real name finally fell into place and he went to London.

The empty home of a corrupt official exploded two days later.

When the smoke cleared and the rubble cooled off, a bouquet of roses appeared there with a message addressed to Bad Wolf and signed with the Doctor's distinctive mark that simply read, "Lovely to make your acquaintance."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

He waited a month after that before going after her. It had been a month of radio silence. No messages, no indications that she had received the handful of messages he'd sent since Paris except for the fact that the roses had been taken from the rubble and a pair of golden high heels left in their place.

The Doctor had managed to track down a flat she rented in London under the same alias she had used in Paris. He assumed that if she didn't want him to find her, she would have moved on from there.

When he showed up at her door, bottle of good champagne in hand as an offering and a reminder of Paris, she just muttered something that sounded like "finally" and pulled him inside to snog him hello.

The champagne was forgotten for a while but they got to it eventually, drinking it as they got to know each other, trading stories about missions and about life in between jobs and talking about their favorite movies.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

They stayed in London for another month. Rose introduced the Doctor to Donna as John Smith, her new partner at the CIA, the next time they met up.

Donna informed them that everyone was a bit on edge after not hearing a peep from either the Doctor or the Bad Wolf for over a month. They were worried that one of them was planning something big.

After that tidbit of news, Rose and the Doctor shared a brief smile and told Donna they had to get going.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The two of them packed their bags and headed to the airport. They only had a whole world to explore and while they'd seen a lot of it before, now they were doing it together and that made all the difference. Rose and John walked onto the plane hand in hand and didn't look back. They had their whole lives ahead of them now.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The next day, Donna received a packet in the mail with a list of all the jobs pulled by both the Doctor and the Bad Wolf, along with a transcript of their written communications over the past year and a half.

At the very back of the packet, there was a note from Rose thanking her for being such a good friend and a picture of Rose and John at an airport. On the back of it was scrawled the message "Lovely to make your acquaintance," and it was signed with their respective aliases.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As for the Bad Wolf and the Doctor, they remained legends. Their names and reputations permanently inscribed into the fabric of espionage. They never disappeared completely, never went into retirement completely. At least once a year, their signatures showed up to let everyone know that they were still there, still together, and proving that legends never died.


End file.
